Summer is nearly there, and occasions to meet other crafters are everywhere. Two weeks ago we went to the “Musée du tisserand Dauphinois” (a local weaving museum) to demonstrate how we spin yarn. Claire and Heike brought their spinning wheels, and I spindle spun some Gotland which was easier to spin evenly on a spindle.

It was fun to see the slightly dissapointed looks of some when they realised we didn’t use antique wheels and raw fleece ;-)

Yep ! Now we have access to much more modern equipment, and that’s part of what makes spinning fun ! We took turns to explain how fibers are stretched and twisted to make yarn. Then plied..
Heike even showed the mayor and founder of the museum how to use hand carders !

One lady brought us her own spinning wheel to see if it could actually work. A beauty ! Yet, after trying and looking at it from evey angle we realised the 2 legs supporting the flyer and bobbin were actually mounted in reversed position. Bummer ! Still, that was fun.

And of course we took some time to visit the beautiful museum, showing all sorts of old machines (and newer ones too, they’re just not so pretty!) to process the silk the Canuts used to weave with.
So very interesting !

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And this week-end, it was crochet time in Grenoble during the “Puces de couturières” (kind of Crafter’s flea market).

A good occasion to bring my magic box with all the crochet hooks to test and chat with crocheters : some of them had already preferences but discovered new ones, others had no idea there were so many different ones, or thought the only difference lay in the shape of the handles…

Other kind crafters dug into my huge stash and helped making room in my studio ;-)

Such markets are also a great occasion to meet “for real” crocheters I usually exchange only emails with: Hi Mrs C., it was great to meet you !